Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1–30 of 40
Post
At a time when so much political journalism is focused on analysis of image management it's nice to see a major Sunday paper throwing its weight behind a push for some real world issues. Anthony Hubbard's piece in the Sunday Star Times today looks at…
Post
An estimated 500 people gathered in Queen Street Auckland, to show solidarity with the Egyptian people in revolt against the Egyptian dictatorship. Yesterday’s march was part of international solidarity actions. Though the majority of the marchers at the Auckland protest were mostly Egyptian expatriates, there…
Post
Happy Waitangi Day. Hope you have something relaxing planned. Is there any other country in the world with such a complex and controversial national holiday? Right from the start the events surrounding Waitangi Day have been as contentious and as central to our national character…
Post
Over the last few weeks I've noticed an increasing tendency from mainstream media to talk about Key not in terms of being a bold outsider (although there are still a few chumps buying that line) but in terms of a public relations creation. Today's HoS…
Post
Bernard Hickey looks at the tax bludgers: Tax avoidance, or tax minimisation in polite circles, has been the bane of our fiscal framework for the past decade. What I find interesting is that we had a 66% tax rate until the late 1980s and tax…
Post
Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Post
OK, that title is pure spin. National has dropped from 55% to 49% in the latest Roy Morgan, and Labour's up from 29% to 34.5%. But that just shows the last poll was a rogue. Now, normal transmission, and National's decline, has resumed. When you…
Post
Forget about freedom of expression. Forget about the right of a union to converse with itself. Forget about the right to voice reasonable and honestly held opinions. Press Release by Unite Union at 10:30 am, 04 Feb 2011 Unite Union is appalled that a union…
Post
Business likes to privatise the profits and socialise the losses. All over the globe we the tax payer recently got stuck with a bill for trillions of dollars to bail out banks that were "too big to fail". Or were they? One country went against…
Post
Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Post
PM Key says we shouldn't lose confidence despite rising unemployment. Pledging to go 'on the pull for jobs', Key said he will prostitute NZ to any multi-national corporation and Kiwis should be willing to work for free. The PM was last seen smiling at himself…
Post
One of John Key's excuses for selling our SOEs is that we need the cash to buy $33 billion of new assets over the next 5 years. Sounds like a lot, eh? It turns out the Crown spent $42 billion on new assets* over the…
Post
It’s almost Big Gay Out time again which also means it’s time for some new images of John Key dancing (if you can call it that) with drag queens and cuddling up to lines of shirtless hunks. I know I’m supposed to admire the fact…
Post
John Key Oct 2010: "I don't think we should argue we are in a recession ... now that summer has come, economic activity is starting to pick up." Building consents lowest on record * unemployment hits 6.8% * retail spending falls * We've had double…
Post
The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) recently popped up with a study purporting to show that the "90-day trial period" (the fire at will bill) is "working". It's a pretty weak definition of "working". But it seems that rate of new hiring in…
Post
Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Post
It's bloody good to see Darien Fenton get the labour portfolio. Mallard did it well but work rights is where Fenton's heart lies and she's worked bloody hard to push for them - she's a fighter and work rights is going to be a good…
Post
The Sunday Star Times has been having a more serious look at what it means for New Zealand, but The Onion has a more amusing take on the gap between rich and poor. Starting: PARIS—At a press conference Tuesday, the World Heritage Committee officially recognized…
Post
John Key has been less cunning than some thought he would be. A July election could have caught the Left on the hop and ruling out Winston Peters means nothing, he couldn't get through his privatisation plans while working with Peters anyway. By going for…
Post
The December quarter employment statistics are out. And there's a big jump up to 6.8% unemployment. 11,000 people lost their jobs, 8,000 became "unemployed" and 3,000 others left the workforce altogether. The labour force participation rate (the number of people of working age, working) is…
Post
That wannabe Crusher Collins. Can't crush a car. Can't save money on double-bunking. Tried to do it cheap. Now the bunks need $2.6m repairs. She reminds me of this bully at primary school. Seemed big, impressive, scary. Until we learned he couldn't tie his shoelaces.…
Post
The same old formula has played out again: National appoints an expensive, hand-picked working group (this time, the Savings Working Group). The working group comes up with predictable and disappointing recommendations. National rejects extreme recommendations out of hand, making it appear moderate, and does what…
Post
By the time this is posted Yasi will have hit Australia. There will be massive damage, and probably loss of life. Most New Zealanders will have friends or family in Australia, perhaps in the areas affected. I'm sure our thoughts are with our cousins over…
Post
Open mike is your post. It's open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
Post
Periodically I run a scan to identify network parasites that are sucking up our bandwidth and processing resources in excess. Of course I leave the benign parasites that provide search facilities alone. Like the ubiquitous googlebot and its other benign brethren. But I stomp on…
admin blogs humour inoculation interweb scoundrels Spying The Standard
Post
So I reckoned the election would be in July. That's because July would have been a good call. And I thought Key and his wee crew were good. Turns out they're locking in November 26. That's a big mistake, he would have had the opposition…
Post
So John Key has flip flopped and decided to rule out working with Winston Peters again. He's trying to portray that as a principled decision, about running an "aspirational" government. "Nothing has changed since 2008. My reasons for ruling him out then still stand." "He's…
Post
Darn, we sneaked past the 7000th post without my noticing at the end of last month. We passed 6000 posts on August 25th last year. So we did that thousand in 160 days. It is pretty good considering we had summer in the middle and…
Post
The PM has called a surprise press conference. According to Vernon Small at Stuff: Prime Minister John Key has called a surprise press conference at Parliament at 12.45pm today at which he is expected to call an election. Our political staff believe he will name…
Post
Our Deep Throat in the press gallery (Rob Hosking) leaked us a copy of the admittance test. Q4) Which of these stories is newsworthy? a) Greying MP dyes hair b) Fat MP a little less fat c) PM supports dictator against popular uprising d) PM…